Question authority.
We said so four years ago, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moved to reduce the protected status for manatees.
The FWS in March 2017 issued a press release headlined, “Manatee reclassified from endangered to threatened as habitat improves and population expands.”
The government agency declared efforts were bringing the “giant sea cow back from brink of extinction” and noted the estimated population of 6,620 Florida manatees marked a dramatic turnaround from the 1970s, when only a few hundred manatees existed.
“On the heels of Manatee Appreciation Day, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced the downlisting of the West Indian manatee from endangered to threatened. Notable increases in manatee populations and improvements in its habitat allowed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change the species’ status under the Endangered Species Act,” the news release stated.
What a strange way to show appreciation for the species.
Sure, we’d seen improvements in manatee numbers but four years ago we asked in our letters to then Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke: Why change course now?
At the Save the Manatee Club, executive director Patrick Rose warned, “A federal reclassification at this time will seriously undermine the chances of securing the manatee’s long-term survival. With the new federal administration threatening to cut 75% of regulations, including those that protect our wildlife and air and water quality, the move to downlist manatees can only be seen as a political one.”
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, also was among those who objected four years ago to the downlisting of the manatee. He tweeted from @VernBuchanan: “@usfws decision to weaken manatee protections HUGELY disappointing. Bad for manatee, bad for Fla. Will contact #secretaryzinke!”
Now he’s needing to contact U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to press for reinstating the “endangered” status for manatees.
Buchanan June 14 called on the FWS to upgrade the manatee’s status under the Endangered Species Act in a letter referring to a likely record number of manatee deaths in 2021 and cautioning the “fate of Florida’s iconic mammal” is at stake.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 761 manatees had died in the first half of 2021. The annual record for manatee deaths in the state is 804, set in 2018.
Also, the FWC estimates there are about 6,500 manatees in the southeastern United States, 120 fewer than estimated when the federal government downlisted the species in 2017.
“When a species becomes extinct, it is lost forever,” Buchanan said. “We cannot afford to let that happen to these iconic residents of Florida and the state’s official marine mammal.”
“Given the alarming surge in manatee deaths this year, upgrading their ESA designation is critical,” added the congressman, whose district includes Anna Maria Island.
Manatees face multiple threats but Buchanan cited broad consensus among conservationists that water quality — degraded habitat, growing pollution and increased harmful algal blooms that kill seagrass — “are the driving force behind the rapidly growing death rate.”
Disappearing seagrass means starving animals, and there have been reports of many dead, emaciated manatees washing up on Florida shores.
The government should guarantee the highest level of protection for the state’s gentle giants.
Pressure authority.
Manatee’s manatee casualties
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported 761 manatee deaths in the state Jan. 1-June 11, including seven in Manatee County:
- March 12, Manatee River, natural, other;
- April 9, Critical Bayou, Palmetto, not necropsied;
- April 9, Braden River, perinatal;
- April 25, Terra Ceia Bay, Palmetto, watercraft collision;
- May 22, Manatee River, Bradenton, perinatal;
- May 30, Palma Sola Bay, Bradenton, watercraft collision;
- June 8, Palma Sola Bay, Bradenton, perinatal.